UPDATED: Burnie Bonnell left legacy of columns, art

But Burnie Bonnell will likely be remembered mostly for her countless human interest columns that ran for several years in the Morning Sun.

Bonnell, 91, of Mt. Pleasant died Saturday at Woodland Hospice.

A memorial service is being planned and will be announced at a later date.

Condolences may be sent to the Lux Family Life Story Funeral Home on South Lincoln Road in Mt. Pleasant, with contributions to Prestige Centre, the First United Methodist Church or the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant.

Bonnell and husband Edward owned Bonnell’s Superior Furniture in Mt. Pleasant for many years, where she made her mark as an interior designer.

Her work was so good that return customers would give her free reign on projects, knowing whatever she created would be beautiful, her son, Jim, said Monday.

As a columnist for the Morning Sun, Bonnell wrote about a wide variety of topics, from how to roast a turkey to expressing her opinion on current events.

She wrote about the community’s history and its people.

“People enjoyed it so much,” said daughter-in-law Kay Bonnell. “People could relate to it.

“She touched people.”In her last Morning Sun column, which ran July 5, Bonnell spoke of her move four years ago with Edward to an assisted living facility.

Moving to the Prestige Centre on East Broadway Street in Mt. Pleasant, Bonnell told readers of her experiences there, including the assistance the staff gave her husband, and describing his death.

“I held his still-warm hands, talking to him,” Bonnell wrote.

Bonnell spoke in the column of the services she enjoyed while living at the Prestige Centre, the friends she made there, and the games, trips and outings she took.

Morning Sun Executive Editor Rick Mills said Monday that Bonnell wanted to write about subjects that were happier than the sometimes bad news on the front pages.

“Burnie was a friend of mine and a friend of this newspaper,” Mills said. “She had both a knack for and a strong desire to inspire, entertain and provide uplifting columns.”

“She frequently told me we had to provide antidotes to the more somber topics that fill the front pages, and she loved doing that. We will miss her.”

Originally from Traverse City, Bonnell came to Mt. Pleasant 67 years ago, and fast became part of the community.

She was a teacher at Mt. Pleasant High School for two years, prior to Jim’s birth.

Bonnell, who was active in the Methodist church and with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan, was also an accomplished artist.

Painting with acrylics and oils, Bonnell once one Art Reach of Mid Michigan’s poster contest and sold several pieces to local business people, Jim said.

“Anyone who knew Burnie knows about her beautiful water colors and marvelous talent,” said Kathy Hill, Executive Directorof Art Reach of Mid-Michigan.“She was a winner of our Art Reach Poster Contest and a regular donor to the Annual Auction for the Benefit of the Arts and as recently as two years ago was a participant in our Banner Festival. She will be missed at Art Reach and by the artistic community alike,” Hill continued.

She was also adept at dried flower arrangements, taking her children all over the county to pick wildflowers, which she then hung all over the house to dry.

“They were beautiful,” Jim said. “She made tons of those.”

Bonnell loved playing bridge as well, her son said.

After retiring from the furniture store in 1980, she started painting watercolors as well.

When word started to spread of her death over the weekend, friends began calling Jim, offering condolences and telling him how much they loved his mother’s columns.

(Susan Field can be reached at 989-779-6075, sfield@michigannewspapers.com or follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/susan.k.field.)